Gärtner KA, Vetter VC, Schäferling M, Reuner G, Hertel S. Training of parental scaffolding in high-socio-economic status families: How do parents of full- and preterm-born toddlers benefit?
BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2018;
88:300-322. [PMID:
29603723 DOI:
10.1111/bjep.12218]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2017] [Revised: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Preterm children have an increased risk regarding self-regulation development. Given the strong link between parenting behaviour (i.e., scaffolding and sensitivity) and children's self-regulation, parental training presents a promising way to counteract the negative consequences of preterm birth.
AIMS
We explored the effectiveness of parental training by comparing a basic scaffolding training and a combined scaffolding/sensitivity training to an active treatment-control group (stress management). Basic and combined treatments should increase parents' domain-specific self-efficacy (DSSE) and beliefs on parental co-regulation and the promotion of learning (BCL) more than the control treatment should. No such differences were expected for parents' domain-general self-efficacy (DGSE). We examined whether parents of preterm and full-term children benefitted equally from training conditions.
SAMPLE(S)
A total of 87 parents of full-term and 35 parents of preterm toddlers (24-36 months of age, corrected for prematurity) participated.
METHODS
Based on a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test follow-up design, parents were randomly assigned to treatments. A multimethod approach was applied, including self-report, parent-child interactions, and standardized behavioural tasks. The presented study is limited to questionnaire data on parents' DGSE, DSSE, and BCL.
RESULTS
An overall increase resulted from pre- to post-test and/or follow-up. Parents' BCL changed significantly stronger in the combined training than in the control group. Parents of preterm and full-term children benefitted equally from basic and combined training.
CONCLUSIONS
The combined training enhanced BCL among parents of full-term and preterm children the most. If such training also yields improvement on the behavioural level, this finding will advance preterm aftercare.
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